You can watch people buy coffee at Starbucks using their smatphones. It doesn't appear to take any less time than exact cash or using a credit card, and that's the issue. It's "cool," but it doesn't really achieve anything measurably better than sliding your card. It has nothing to do with iPhones; Nokia phones have had this capability for 10 years, being Euro-based, so it's not the technology, it's that it isn't better.

10:55 am March 28, 2013

Harry Day wrote:

the only pay by smart phone locations I have even seen is Starbucks, but they really are not "Pay by Smartphone". It is a "debit from Prepay". I would have no problem using my phone for payment, but if every vendor thinks that America has the resources to prepay with each vendor, they need to think again. Smartphone to Bank using either a "verified by Visa" type of transaction is what we are all waiting for.

11:45 am March 28, 2013

kirth wrote:

last week I dropped my ATM card on the ground and .... nothing happened. try that with your $800 "smart phone".
"newer method" does not make it a "better" method.

3:04 pm March 28, 2013

Bart wrote:

Yeah but a few years ago people would say they are not interested in browsing the Internet with their phones... until the iPhone came out with a desktop-grade browser and made it easier. Now everyone wants a phone that can browse the Internet.

The problem is that the technology is not currently ubiquitous. Most people aren't paying with their phones because most stores don't let them. They're not going to be interested in paying with their phones until they are able to do it everywhere and see the benefits.

@kirth, if you drop your phone you're also not going to be able to make phone calls or do a lot of things you do with your phone. Adding one more item to that list is going to be the least of your worries. But if you loose a phone with your credit cards in it, it's a lot easier to secure it remotely than if you loose a wallet full of credit cards. A phone-based wallet can also make it easier to apply coupons, see your balance, save trees and time by not needing to print a paper receipt. It's also nice at place like the Apple store where you can scan your own items and walk out of the store without needing to go to a line to deal with a cashier or slow self-checkout systems.

6:14 pm March 29, 2013

James Wester wrote:

Bad write-up on this survey by the WSJ.

First: "Only 6% of smart phone owners used their device to make a purchase in the past 12 months, and less than a quarter say that they’re even interested in such services, the Fed said." That should read "at the point of sale." Mobile commerce, i.e. making a purchase using a mobile device, is huge and getting bigger.

Second: As for it being a small percentage, that's true, but it's a 3X increase over the same period according to that same study. Consider that there are few solutions even on the market at that 6 percent is actually pretty impressive.

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